Gear

Photos by Tony Cordoza

At a glance, you'd probably think that Panasonic's $1,000 DMR-HS2 looks pretty much like every other DVD recorder out there-including the Panasonic DMR-E30 that I reviewed just last month. But the DMR-HS2's chassis carries clues that something more is going on here.

Photos by Tony Cordoza Check it out: In the Lab Features Checklist At the height of the stock-market bubble a few years back, I'd occasionally field a call from a rich guy - or his assistant - seeking advice on the cool, new flat-panel plasma TVs he'd been hearing about.

Yes, an R2D2-sized subwoofer with an 18-inch driver and a thousand-plus watts of amplification can look and sound awfully impressive - and can cause some pretty serious seismic damage to boot. But let's get real: how many of us can afford something like that?

Photos by Tony Cordoza

There are high-priced major-league baseball players (is that redundant?), and then there are the Mark McGuires and Sammy Sosas - players whose abilities and accomplishments leave even their overpaid teammates in awe. The same holds true as you approach the stratospheric reaches of high-end A/V receivers.

You know your life is out of balance when the best looking thing around you is the TV - and it's not even turned on! That was the predicament I found myself in when reviewing the Loewe (pronounced "Loo-va") Aconda widescreen HDTV monitor. Maybe the set looks so good because Europeans (Loewe is based in Germany) have an evolved design sense.